Hi guys
As I was away for the weekend there is no report, but the winners are:
At the start of the race things looked promising with a force 2 northerly and a start line out at sea. What we hoped was an off shore breeze didn't materialise and therefore the race was shortened with no sailing for the rest of the day as the wind dissapeared all together leaving a sea looking like a mill pond, but with a ripping tide. John and James Bennett managed to complete two laps followed by the Hornet and the ISO, but the rest of the fleet either returned to base or were timed out.
Race 4 did not take place due to no wind.
1st John/James Bennett-Tipsy 9er
2nd Duncan Oliver/Chris Brealy-Hornet
3rd Karl Royer/crew-ISO
With the premier division sailors away at the 'Man of Kent' race at Whitstable it was a chance for the Vauxhall Conference sailors to step up to the plate. In race 1, Steve Owen in his Contender did enough to stay ahead of the Laser 2000 boats to take first place followed by Dai Griffiths & Tom Daniels second and Phil and Julia Rees who took third in their RS Vision. In Race 2 the Griffiths boat had a great start and beat everyone to the windward mark only to see the lead change hands on the first run whilst Tony Herlihy and Karl Royer decided to go for a swim in their Topper ISO.
With few competitors, it was a race fought out by the Laser 2000 fleet. Dai Griffiths and Tom Daniels took the honours from Steve & Jane Lee after some impressive downwind sailing by Lees. Dai and Tom did enough on the upwind legs to keep ahead at the finish. Dai called Starboard on Steve at the wing mark but as he was actually on Port, and Jane kindly pointed it out to him and sailed past with a look that said 'Plonker' in her eyes (If that is possible from the lovely Jane). Another senior moment in the Griffiths boat.
Herne Bay Sailing Club hosted the 2009 International Europe Class British Open and National Championships over the first September weekend.
With the previous day's training session cancelled due to strong winds the competitors were happy to see a force 4 south westerly at the start of proceedings on Saturday morning. There was a steady chop which made for some interesting sailing with wind against tide. There was an excellent contest between Chris Catt, Gareth Williams and the Belgians, Gaetan Van Houtte and bart Decouttore, with Chris Catt of Downs SC leading over night.
On day 2 the wind dropped but there was still no let up in the closely fought races with Gill, Catt and Williams fighting it out with the Belgian lads. Our own Hannah Golton, having never sailed a Europe before took the prize for the first youth sailor, well dome Hannah.
The Hornets descended on Herne Bay SC for their 2009 National Championships. On the Saturday, the breeze was a force 4 westerly with a wind-over-tide chop making it an excellent contest. In the first race places swapped throughout with Peter Bennett and John Shelton from Shoreham SC flying down the off-wind stages to win the first race. The Herne Bay contingent were all placed in the second half of the fleet having chosen to stay put wide on the beats whilst the leaders chose the middle of the course.
With only forty minutes to go there were only two entrants for this year’s silverware with winds blowing at 14 to 19 MPH. Then arrived the Hicksons’ after trudging through the Canterbury traffic to make up the numbers followed by the Sanders babes, Freya and Alice.
After a week of brilliant weather this weeks racing started once again with glorious sunshine but with a strong southwesterly wind gusting force 4 to 5. The course set was to a mark just off the Ship Inn and then a storming reach downwind to the storm drain outlet out towards Beltinge. The start saw Hannah Golton in her Topper scream toward the windward mark but being overtaken by her parents and the Bennett boys in their 59er. The downwind leg saw many a capsize by the laser fleet but the two laser 2000’s and the 59er screamed into a lead that the others had difficulty making up. Brian and Maria Golton in their Laser 2000 sailed to victory followed by the Bennett’s in their 59er.
The first two races of the late summer series saw shifting winds of unpredictable speed and direction which made for bonuses for the alert helms. The courses were triangle -sausage the first of which in winds of about 17 knots saw many capsizes. Helms having senior moments as regards the course also resulted in some boats travelling rather further than was strictly necessary! The fleet was somewhat diminished by the absence of the Commodore and his helming son who were busy winning the Vision National Championships down at Plymouth as well as many who were away on holiday or taking part in other meetings round the country
On Saturday and Sunday the 4th and 5th July, Herne Bay Sailing Club ran a two-day regatta in honour of ex-Commodore and one of it’s favourite sons, the late Jim Newbery.
The Newbery family presented the club with a trophy for the event and a substantial money prize ‘The Cadet Ambassador’s Prize’, which was awarded to Hannah Golton for representing the club at National School’s level and later this year at European level. Last year it was awarded to Ross Blackledge. Jim would have been heartily pleased to know that young sailors were to benefit from this award.
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